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Watch the tutorial
Step 1: Duplicate your clip and set the top layer to Screen
Put your clip on the timeline, then hold Alt (Option on Mac) and drag it up one track to make a copy on V2. Select the top clip, open Effect Controls and find Opacity. Change Blend Mode from Normal to Screen. Screen makes dark areas see-through, so only the glowing parts of the top layer will show over the original clip underneath.
Step 2: Add the five effects to the top clip
Search the Effects panel for each of these and drag them onto the top clip, in this order: Extract, Find Edges, Tint, Turbulent Displace and VR Glow. The picture will look washed out and strange at first. Do not worry, each effect gets a small job in the next steps.
Faster with BetterFX: skip the Effects panel. Press your BetterFX shortcut, type the first letters of Find Edges and press Enter to apply it to the selected clip. Get BetterFX
Step 3: Turn the picture into outlines
Tick Invert under Find Edges. This turns the picture into glowing lines on black, tracing every edge of the car. Leave Tint on its default black and white values for now, and set Turbulent Displace to the Turbulent type, then raise Amount (around 90 in the video) and lower Size (around 20). This wobbles the lines so they look like crackling electricity instead of a clean outline.
Step 4: Add the glow and color it
Open VR Glow and set Luma Threshold to around 0.5. The video also uses a Glow Radius around 25, Glow Brightness around 3 and Glow Saturation around 10, but let your eyes decide. Tick Use Tint Color, click the Tint Color swatch and pick a bright cyan in the Color Picker. Click OK, and the edges now glow in that color.
Step 5: Make the glow sweep with Extract
The sweep comes from Extract. Click the stopwatch next to White Input Level to add a keyframe at the start. Move forward in time and change the value, so the amount of picture that the effect lets through changes. In the video, it goes from around 200 down to around 133, and the glowing edges spread across the car as it moves. Scrub through the clip, and move or adjust the second keyframe until the sweep looks good to you.
Smoother with EaseFlow: select the keyframes and apply a real easing curve in one click instead of dragging Bezier handles. See EaseFlow
Step 6: Play it back
Play the clip and watch the neon outlines race over the car while the original footage stays visible underneath.
Tips
- Try other colors. Change the Tint Color in VR Glow to match your brand or the mood of the shot.
- Use steady footage. Edges are cleaner when the camera is not moving too much.
- Copy the effects. Select the effects on the top clip, press Ctrl + C and paste them onto another clip to reuse the whole look. See also the text outline effect for a similar edge look on titles.
FAQ
Why do I duplicate the clip?
The top copy carries the glow, and the clip under it keeps the normal picture. With the Screen blend mode, the two blend together.
What does Find Edges do?
It detects the outlines of objects in your footage and draws them as lines. With Invert ticked, the lines turn bright on a dark background.
Can I use this on any footage?
Yes. It works best on clips with strong shapes, like cars, people or buildings.
Want to apply effects like these in seconds? Get BetterFX for Premiere Pro.
